


i got this feeling (inside my bones)

by gilligankane



Category: Wynonna Earp (TV)
Genre: F/F, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-12
Updated: 2017-07-12
Packaged: 2018-12-01 10:50:52
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,600
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11484828
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/gilligankane/pseuds/gilligankane
Summary: When the pieces of Nicole's life begin to fall into place, she discovers that she needs to make room for a few more than she started with.--In which Wynonna is acting stranger than usual, and Nicole is determined to figure out why.





	i got this feeling (inside my bones)

**Author's Note:**

  * For [nowhere89](https://archiveofourown.org/users/nowhere89/gifts).



> A post-2.05 fic. Everything is fair game.
> 
> Smurf, you know what you did.

A solid punch in the arm brings her out of her thoughts. Nicole winces and rubs her arm, glaring at Waverly. "Ouch," she whines. "What the hell?"

Waverly makes a face back at her. "I've been calling your name for the last 10 minutes and you're... Are you staring at my sister's ass?"

Wynonna's head pops up and she turns around slowly, grinning. "You mean my top shelf ass?"

Waverly's eyes narrow as she looks back and forth between Nicole and Wynonna. "Excuse me?"

"Oh, yeah," Wynonna drawls. "Haught here thinks my ass is top shelf."

Nicole sighs and drops her head into her hands. She peeks between her fingers in Waverly. "For the record, Wynonna was miserable, I was a tiny bit drunk, and you were fighting off a demon stripper. And this was forever ago.”

"And so you thought you would cheer her up by complimenting her ass?"

Nicole shrugs and looks at Wynonna. "It worked."

Wynonna winks back at her, wagging her tongue and raising her eyebrows suggestively. Waverly throws a pack of post-it notes at her. They bounce off Wynonna's stomach with a soft thwack. Waverly gasps softly and stands quickly, taking small quick steps towards Wynonna. "I'm sorry," she breathes out.

Nicole sees Wynonna's eyes glance in her direction quickly, and she tips her head to the side in confusion.

"Chill, baby girl," Wynonna murmurs.

"Who? Me?" Waverly's voice goes a little high. "I'm chill."

Wynonna snorts. "Yeah, as chill as a slice of fresh, hot pizza." She gets a faraway look in her eyes. "Oh, pizza." She closes the file she was looking at and nods to herself. "I'm going to get pizza. You want some?"

Waverly shakes her head at the same as Nicole nods. Waverly lifts an eyebrow at her and Nicole frowns before she sighs softly. "No," she says softly. "Waverly brought me a salad. today."

Wynonna wrinkles her nose and claps a hand down on Nicole's shoulder. "I'll have a slice in memory of your free will." She marches out of the bullpen with her hand at her head, saluting. Before she rounds the corner, she makes a whipping noise at Nicole and then disappears.

Nicole stares after her, a slight frown on her face as she tries to piece together something. When she turns back around, Waverly is sitting on her desk with her arms crossed over her chest.

"If her ass is top shelf, what's mine?"

Nicole grins. "Museum quality."

Waverly nods sharply. "Good answer."

  
-  
Nicole rifles through the cabinets in the kitchen of the homestead, trying to find some coffee grounds. She closes a cabinet slowly, trying not to let it squeak. She’ll pick up a canister of WD40 on her way back to the homestead from work later tonight and loosen the hinges up. She’s been staying here lately, wanting to be closer to Waverly. She knows Waverly wants to be closer to Wynonna, too, and so this is their compromise.

_“If you want space,” Nicole had started to say._

_It had been two nights since Mikshun, and Nicole had spent those nights awake and wishing she was with Waverly instead of alone in her bed._

_Waverly shook her head quickly. “I want you here. If you want to be here.”_

_“I want to be wherever you are,” Nicole breathed out. “If that’s too much. I know I can be… I know I have these-”_

_Waverly kissed her softly. She pulled away and pressed her forehead to Nicole’s. “There are things we need to talk about but one of them is never, ever going to be about me not wanting you near me. I want you here.” She pulled back and looked Nicole in the eyes, holding her gaze. “I want you here.”_

She finally finds a can of grounds that looks like they might be from the cold war, but when she pries the rusted top off, the contents smell like coffee.

It’ll do.

On the shelf just under the coffee, there’s a small glass jar of bright pink tea bags. She leaves the cabinet open while she sets up the coffee pot. While it’s brewing, she goes back to the tea bags and picks up one. Earps bleed coffee and booze, Wynonna had said to her once.

But then Waverly gave Wynonna tea at the station and there’s tea in their cupboards, something called Morning Mama. It’s a blend of ginger and chamomile. Nicole wrinkles her nose. She can’t even imagine Waverly drinking this stuff - Nicole had tried to get her to drink decaf once and for the next week, every time she tried to kiss Waverly, she had gotten a cheek instead of her lips.

A slim arm winds around her waist and Nicole feels a forehead press in between her shoulder blades. She smiles and laces her fingers with the ones splayed across her stomach. She puts the tea bag back into the cabinet and closes it.

“Morning,” she murmurs.

She feels Waverly smile against her back and hum. “Morning.”

“You need more coffee. I’m pretty sure this coffee is older than Henry.”

Waverly laughs softly and presses a kiss to Nicole’s shoulder before stepping back a little and turning Nicole around so her back pushes into the countertop.

Nicole runs her hands through Waverly’s hair, tucking it behind her ears.

Waverly’s eyes flutter closed. “You’re up early.”

Nicole trails her thumbs across Waverly’s cheekbone to her bottom lip. “Habit.”

“It’s not a work day,” Waverly murmurs. “It’s a weekend. We should be in bed and get up late and make pancakes and make out in the kitchen and stay in our pajamas until dinnertime.”

Nicole looks over Waverly’s shoulder and smiles crookedly. “Are we going to do all of that while your sister walks around in her underwear?”

Wynonna flips her off lazily, her eyes half-closed. Waverly sinks forward against Nicole, her forehead heavy against Nicole’s breastbone. Nicole rolls her eyes when Wynonna invades their personal space, her hip against Nicole’s as she reaches over her, opens the cabinet, and pulls out one of the tea bags Nicole had been looking at earlier.

She opens her mouth to ask why Wynonna would be drinking tea - she’s making a fresh pot of coffee - but Waverly pulls back and kisses her softly and asks her to make pancakes anyway and tells Wynonna that she needs to put pants on, and Nicole just forgets to remember to ask.

  
-  
She pauses in the doorway to the ladies room at the station and tries to assess exactly what she’s seeing.

Wynonna freezes with one leg in her jeans and the other bare. She looks down at her jeans and back up at Nicole slowly.

“I can explain.”

“You really don’t need to,” Nicole says, studying the peeling paint above the mirror over the sink.

“They were too tight,” Wynonna continues.

“You don’t need to tell me,” Nicole insists.

“I could barely breathe in them,” Wynonna says a little louder.

Nicole puts her hands up in surrender, now eyeing the odd ceiling stains. “Seriously, Wynonna-”

“The button was cutting into my stomach,” Wynonna says over her.

“Okay.”

“I’m just saying.”

Nicole shrugs and pushes her hands into her pockets. “You don’t need to say anything.”

“Fine.”

Nicole glances down at Wynonna, in her jeans now, the button undone. “Cool.”

Wynonna stares at her for a moment. “At ease, Officer.”

Nicole rolls her eyes and pushes out of the bathroom; she can pee later.

  
-  
Nicole leans heavily on the handle of the shopping cart and pushes it slowly up and down the aisles, trailing behind Waverly.

She’s not sure how she got here, to this moment in her life: following a woman through a grocery store and debating over what kind of cereal to get; sneaking potato chips into the cart when Waverly isn’t watching; arguing over ice cream and then getting both anyways. It’s been a long, bumpy, dark road, but the grocery store is well-lit and Waverly’s hands linger on her shoulders and her hips as she moves around her and Nicole feels like the air is just a little fresher here.

Wynonna pushes the end of the cart and snickers when Nicole almost hits the shelving.

“Watch it, Haughstuff.”

Nicole sticks her tongue out at Wynonna.

“If you two can’t behave, we’re going home,” Waverly chides without looking back at them.

“Promise?” Wynonna asks.

Nicole elbows her. “Knock it off.”

Wynonna stops and raises her eyebrow at Nicole, looking her up and down slowly. “Oh, so Waverly is the-”

Nicole claps her hand down over Wynonna’s mouth, giving Waverly a large smile when she looks back at the sudden silence.

Wynonna licks her hand and Nicole grimaces, wiping it on Wynonna’s shoulder. “You taste like pickles.”

Nicole shrugs. “I had pickles today.”

“Don’t you wash your hands?”

“Don’t you wash your face?”

Waverly drops cans of green beans into the cart with a crash. “Are you two serious? People are staring at you.”

Nicole looks up the aisle and smiles sheepishly at Mrs. Rosen. Wynonna leans against the cart and wiggles her fingers in Mrs. Rosen’s direction.

Waverly huffs. “Go pick out a cereal. Both of you.”

Wynonna claps her hands together happily and heads into the next aisle. Waverly moves to follow her but Nicole stops her, grabbing her elbow gently and tugging her back. She traps Waverly between her arms against the cart and leans in.

“Hey,” she murmurs.

Waverly smiles softly at her. “Hey yourself.”

“This is nice.” Nicole thumbs at Waverly’s hipbone, just visible beneath the crop of her shirt.

“Grocery shopping?”

“Doing normal things with you,” Nicole clarifies. “Like, the kind of normal things my brother does with his wife.”

Waverly’s lips twitch. “You mean your brother and his wife don’t shoot century-old demons first thing in the morning and then spend their lunch hour grocery shopping?”

Nicole smiles back. “No. They shoot demons strictly during blood moons.”

“Idiot,” Waverly breathes out before she pushes onto her tiptoes and laces her hands behind Nicole’s neck. She kisses her softly and slowly and Nicole’s eyes are closed when Waverly pulls back.

“Gross,” Wynonna says. She burps.

Waverly turns in Nicole’s arms and picks up the box Wynonna put into the cart. “No,” she says, handing it back to Wynonna. “Pick a different one.”

Wynonna takes the box from Waverly’s hand slowly. “I want this one,” she says.

Waverly shakes her head. “This isn’t healthy. Go get something with fiber.”

“I’m not an old lady with poop problems. But I am a woman with a sugar craving.”

Nicole makes a face and busies herself with stacking the items already in the cart. She can feel Wynonna and Waverly staring at each other, each daring the other to break first. Nicole is all the way through the canned items and the boxes before Wynonna sighs and tucks the sugary cereal under her arm, marching back through the aisle.

Nicole looks at Waverly and sees her staring after Wynonna. Waverly sighs and turns back to Nicole, almost startled to see Nicole looking at her.

“What?”

“You’re cute when you’re being all big sister,” Nicole says simply.

Waverly gives Nicole a smile that doesn’t quite reach her eyes and Nicole files it away for later.

When they get the cart into the cereal aisle, Nicole has the grace to pretend not to see Waverly slip Wynonna’s first choice cereal into the cart.

  
-  
“I’m sorry,” Wynonna rasps from the passenger seat.

Nicole grips the steering wheel a little tighter and nods, her lips pressed together in a thin line. “No big deal,” she finally says.

“I know you cleaned it, like, last week,” Wynonna says. Her voice is quiet.

Nicole shrugs, keeping her eyes on the road. “I can clean it again.”

Wynonna goes quiet again. The radio crackles softly.

“Got a bug?” Nicole asks casually.

Wynonna coughs slightly. “Yeah. Sure.”

“I’ve never seen you throw up before,” Nicole continues.

“Even superheroes have bad days.”

Nicole nods and slows the cruiser down, braking softly so she doesn’t jostle Wynonna. When she puts it in park, she finally turns to look at Wynonna for the first time since she got in the passenger seat, immediately leaned over, and threw up. She pauses. “Want me to come in with you?”

Wynonna looks small and pale and so unlike herself. But she shakes her head and reaches for the door handle. “I’ll be good. Waverly is going to finish her shift at Shorty’s and come force-feed me ‘low-sodium chicken soup’ or some crap.” She tries to crack a smile but she looks so tired.

Nicole checks the time - Waverly won’t be off shift for another two hours, at least. She picks up the radio and thumbs the button. “Hey, Matt. It’s Haught. I’m out of service for a few hours. I’ll let you know when I’m back on the road.”

“Copy,” Matt says over the wire.

Wynonna is quiet for a few moments. “You didn’t need to do that,” she says softly.

Nicole looks at Wynonna, remembers the way possessed-Wynonna had told her she was smothering Waverly, and she shrugs. “Consider my annoying company payback for puking in my cruiser.” She grins before she gets out of the car. “And imagine how many brownie points Waverly will give me for this,” she says.

Wynonna groans. “I’m gonna be sick again.”

  
-  
Nicole’s fork is halfway to her mouth when Wynonna snatches it out of her hand and sniffs it. She shakes her head and hands it back to Nicole.

Slowly, Nicole puts the fork back in her takeout container and pushes it across her desk. “Uh, hi to you too.”

Wynonna huffs and sags into the chair at the front desk. “I’m being haunted.”

Nicole perks up a little at that. It’s been slow, lately. Since exorcising Mikshun from Waverly, the town has been calm and quiet and ready for the next big thing to hit. “By what?” she asks, trying to curb her excitement.

“This… This… This smell,” Wynonna hisses.

Nicole slumps back into her seat. “A what?”

“A smell,” Wynonna growls. “It’s, like, lingering. It’s the only thing I can focus on. Since the minute I walked in here this morning, it’s been, like, suffocating me.”

Nicole looks at her lunch. “Which is why you sniffed my pasta?”

Wynonna sighs. “It’s not the pasta. I already went through the whole fridge and ate half of what was in there and I can’t find it.”

“You’re the one who took Melendez’s food? He’s super pissed about that,” Nicole says in a harsh whisper.

Wynonna pats her stomach. “It cannot be contained.” She startles and drops her hand, giving Nicole a quick look before she changes the subject. “Anyway, I’m being haunted by a smell and I’m ready to punch someone.”

Nedley comes out of his office, a half of sandwich in his hand. Wynonna’s head whips around and she tilts her face up into the air, sniffing exaggeratedly. Her eyes are wide and bright and the smile on her face is predatory. She stands slowly, still sniffing.

“Tuna,” she hisses.

Nedley frowns at her. “What the hell is wrong with you, Earp.”

Wynonna levels him with a look. “You,” she says, pointing her finger. “Give me that.”

Nedley looks at Wynonna, then Nicole, then his sandwich. “Are you out of your damn mind? You think I’m going to- Hey!”

Wynonna pulls the sandwich out of his hand and turns sharply, throwing it in the trash. “Be glad I didn’t set it on fire. It reeks.”

“That was my lunch, Earp,” he growls, reaching to fish the sandwich out of the trash.

Wynonna kicks the barrel away before he can get to it. Nedley looks up and his eyes are narrowed in anger. Nicole reads the situation and stands quickly, putting herself between Wynonna and Nedley. She holds her hands up at Nedley. “Sir, it’s fine. Wynonna and I are gonna go to the market and get you a new sandwich.” Nedley continues to glare. “Or a hot lunch. You want a hot lunch, sir?”

“I want one,” Wynonna says from behind her.

“Not helping,” Nicole says flatly..

Nedley relaxes a little. “I want a chicken parm lunch from Dottie’s. And a side of mash potatoes. And not a word of it to my daughter.”

Nicole nods easily. “Don’t worry, sir. Your secret is safe with us.” She turns and grabs Wynonna by the elbow, dragging her out of the bullpen. “And you’re getting me a burger and fries,” she tells Wynonna.

  
-  
Wynonna pokes her head around the conference room door. “Waverly still here?”

Nicole’s hand reflexively goes to her throat, checking to make sure her shirt is buttoned. She feels her cheeks flush from the memory of Waverly being here ten minutes ago, her mouth on Nicole’s neck and her hands in Nicole’s hair.

“No,” Nicole says, wincing at her strangled voice. “No,” she tries again.

Wynonna rolls her eyes and slides into the room, pulling a coffee cup out from behind her back. “Please. Like the whole station doesn’t know what you two were doing during your lunch break.”

Nicole rubs at the back of her neck. “Uh, I don’t-”

Wynonna looks at her. “Seriously, Haught. Nedley is thinking of instituting a station-wide rule.”

Nicole feels herself flush. “Shit,” she mumbles.

Wynonna grins at her. “Also, you might want to talk to Waverly about concealer.” She gestures to Nicole’s neck.

Nicole slaps a hand down over her neck and Wynonna immediately bursts into laughter. Nicole glares at her and starts stacking her files back together. “What do you want, Wynonna?”

Wynonna stops laughing. She sighs. “Sorry,” she murmurs.

Nicole shrugs, not looking up. “It’s whatever.”

“No, for…” Waverly sighs. “For the other stuff. The stuff we haven’t talked about.”

Nicole pauses for a second. “It’s whatever,” she repeats.

“You’re good for her,” Wynonna says. “I just don’t want to be left behind.”

Nicole looks up this time and frowns. “What?”

Wynonna huffs, frustrated. “I just… Okay, here goes.” She takes a deep breath. “Champ Hardy is a bag of dicks.”

Nicole sputters. “Okay?”

“Like, he is the worst. And why Waverly ever- So.” Wynonna shrugs. “He was stupid and not worth her time but he also wasn’t, like, a threat?”

Nicole sits down and leans back in her chair. “Are you asking me or telling me?”

Wynonna sits down next to her “Telling you? Telling you.” She fiddles with the top of her coffee lid. “He’s never going to leave Purgatory, you know? Guys like Champ Hardy are the kind of guys who are born and die here and they’re satisfied with drinking at Shorty’s and reliving their ‘glory days’ and bitching about their wives. And Waverly deserves more than that.”

Nicole nods slowly.

“But if Waverly decided to settle down with Champ, then she’d be settling, way below her bar, but she’d be here.” Wynonna tips her head. “You know what I mean?”

“You could come and go and she’d always be here when you came back,” Nicole clarifies.

Wynonna flinches a little. “Okay. I deserved that.” She sighs. “Champ Hardy was not a threat to my relationship with Waverly.”

“But I am.”

Wynonna shrugs. “She’s happy. Like, Daddy-remembered-her-birthday happy. And you, you’re not from here. If you had any damn sense, you wouldn’t stick around here either. You would leave just as easy as you showed up. You’d get your small, freaky town experience in and blow out of here for some big city job.” She pauses. “And you’d take Waverly with you.”

Nicole leans forward a little. “I would never ask her to leave.”

Wynonna looks away. “You wouldn’t have to.”

Nicole sighs and pushes aside her folders. “I don’t know what you two were like before I got here. I’ve heard a lot of things, but everything I hear contradicts everything I know about you two. About you.” She waits until Wynonna looks back at her. “You’re not the brains of the operation, Waves is. But you’re the heart, and you need both to make this whole thing work. I would never try and break that up.”

Wynonna narrows her eyes for a moment before she huffs and looks away. “You’re insufferable.”

“Only because you actually like me.”

Wynonna pops the top off her coffee and ignores Nicole.

“Sorry for almost shooting you,” Nicole says after a minute.

“Sorry for telling you Waverly fakes it during sex,” Wynonna fires back. She smiles quickly to soften the blow.

Nicole stands and stretches out. “Good talk.”

Wynonna stands quickly. “Yeah. Let’s not do it again.”

“Deal.”

Nicole watches Wynonna sip her coffee enviously. The machine in the break room is busted and it’s a cold walk to the coffee shop on the corner. Wynonna looks down at her cup and sighs, holding it out.

“One sip,” she says firmly.

Nicole grabs the cup quickly and takes a sip. She swallows and frowns. “Is that… Is that decaf?”

Wynonna shrugs. “I’m trying something new.”

“And…” Nicole licks her lips. “There’s no whisky in there,” she accuses.

Wynonna shrugs again. “Like I said, I’m trying something.”

Nicole watches Wynonna leave the conference room and she frowns.

  
-  
Nicole slides her hands along Waverly’s bare leg, over her pajama shorts and to her hip, pressing her fingertips into her skin. Waverly groans against her neck and it sends shivers down Nicole’s spine. She slips her free hand between their bodies, finding the cliff of Waverly’s chin, tipping her head up enough so that Nicole can find Waverly’s lips with her own. The arm of the couch digs into her neck uncomfortably but Waverly settles on top of her warm and solid, pressing against every part of Nicole.

She pants softly in Waverly’s ear when Waverly’s fingers slip along her ribcage, dancing across long-healed bumps and bruises. She moves her hand to the dip of Waverly’s back and she’s moving it lower when the couch shakes and suddenly someone is sitting on her feet.

“Well, when you said - stop screaming, Nicole. When you said movie night, I assumed the movie wasn’t going to be triple xxx or live-action,” Wynonna says around a mouthful of ice cream.

Nicole frees her feet from under Wynonna and kicks her hard in the thigh. Wynonna grunts.

Waverly, still stretched out on top of her, sighs and drops her head into the dip of Nicole’s neck. “Sorry,” she murmurs.

Nicole sighs and flexes her hand on Waverly’s hips before she wriggles up into a sitting position. Waverly slides off her lap and sits between Wynonna and Nicole.

“So what’re we watching?” Wynonna asks cheerfully.

Nicole glares at her and feels a small scrap of satisfaction to see Waverly do the same. She looks down at Wynonna’s bowl of ice cream and gags. “Is that… Is that chopped pickles on your ice cream?”

Wynonna holds the bowl close to her body, curling around it defensively. “So what?”

Nicole feels herself gag again. She slaps a hand over her mouth and shakes her head. “No,” she squeaks through her fingers.

Wynonna stares at her and scoops a large spoonful of ice cream out of the bowl, chopped pickles mixed in.

Nicole shakes her head. “Don’t do it.”

Wynonna opens her mouth.

Waverly huffs. “You two are ridiculous.” She pushes off the couch and stomps out of the living room. She pauses in the doorway. “Are you coming or what?”

“Oh!” Wynonna shouts. “Not-”

“Yes!” Nicole shouts louder. She rockets off the couch and pushes Waverly out of sight towards the stairs. stopping briefly to flip Wynonna off.

Wynonna shoves the whole spoon in her mouth.

Nicole gags again.

  
-  
“We’re pinned down,” Nicole hisses into her cellphone.

“We’re trying to get there,” Waverly assures her. “Doc’s car stalled and we’re on foot. It should only be a little while longer, I swear.”

Nicole swears into the phone and looks at Wynonna, crouched down behind her. She cups a hand over the phone. “They’re on foot.”

“On foot?” Wynonna growls. “What is this? The Old West?”

“Hurry,” Nicole says into the phone.

A gunshot takes Nicole’s attention away from whatever Waverly says back to her. It was too close; the Revenant is getting too close to them. Another gunshot rings in her ear and she drops her phone, cursing when the screen cracks. It goes black and she scowls, pocketing it and turning back to Wynonna.

“You okay?” she asks.

Wynonna pants heavily. There’s a long cut along her arm that’s dripping down her hand. A small puddle of blood pools on the floor under her. Nicole feels her stomach flop. She hadn’t thought it was that bad of a cut, but Wynonna is starting to look pale. She growls and grabs the shoulder of her own shirt, putting it into her mouth and biting down hard before she digs her fingers into the seam of the shirt and tugs. It takes a few tries but she manages to pull the stitching and rip the shirt. She rolls the fabric and gestures for Wynonna’s arm, typing it tightly around her bicep to stem the blood flow.

“I see why Waverly brags about you,” Wynonna pants. “That was Haught.”

“Now’s not the time for jokes,” Nicole says. She manages a small smirk, though.

Wynonna nods at Nicole. “You okay?”

Nicole cradles her now-sleeveless arm against her chest. She’s pretty sure her elbow is dislocated and that she can’t feel it only because she’s in shock. But she nods through gritted teeth anyway.

Another gunshot rings out, this time bouncing off a stack of crates to their left.

Nicole looks at Wynonna. “You need to get out of here.”

“How?” Wynonna asks. “We put ourselves in a corner.”

“If you had listened to me when I-” Nicole stops herself. “We need to clear a path.”

Wynonna shakes her head. “Unless you’ve got an artillery under whatever is left of that shirt that I don’t know about, I don’t know how we’ll do that.”

Nicole curses. She glares at Wynonna. “Why don’t you have Peacemaker? I thought you’re supposed to always have it?”

Wynonna’s eyes flash. “Waverly made me put it in that stupid gun safe she bought for you! Why didn’t you take it out this morning?”

“It’s not my gun,” Nicole mutters back. She takes a deep breath and presses her palm to her forehead. “It’s fine. It’s fine. I have my gun. And I have a full clip on my belt. I can cover you long enough for you to run out of here.”

Wynonna rolls her eyes.

Another gunshot; this time closer.

“Yeah, like Waverly would let me leave you here, wounded,” Wynonna huffs. “We’re stuck with each other.”

Nicole shakes her head. “Then I’m not going to be stuck with you for my entire afterlife.” She moves into a crouch and pulls Wynonna up with her. “On my count, get behind me and don’t move.”

Before Nicole even gets to three, Wynonna is pushing past her, knocking over a stack of crates. They crash to the ground with a deafening noise and Nicole hears the footsteps coming towards them stop, then start again.

“Dammit, Wynonna,” Nicole hisses. She follows quickly and they weave through boxes and trash. She spots an exit to the right and grabs Wynonna’s shoulder, pointing towards it. They’re ten feet away from it when something blurs by her and comes to a stop in front of the door.

“Stupid Heir,” the Revenant hisses. “You think you can hide from me?”

Wynonna snorts but Nicole can see her arm shaking in pain. “I literally trashed the place so you would hear me.”

The Revenant snarls. “I’m going to enjoy killing you.”

“You guys are all the same,” Wynonna says, waving her hand. “I’m going to enjoy killing you. It’s been my life duty to kill another Heir. Like, get new material.”

Nicole edges closer to the Revenant, trying to put herself in front of Wynonna. She’s not going to use her gun until she knows Waverly, Doc, Dolls, and Peacemaker are closer.

“You’re an embarrassment to your bloodline,” the Revenant spits.

Wynonna twirls her finger in the air. “Woop-de-do.”

Nicole watches Wynonna twist her body just slightly, turning her hips to the side. Her good arm swings in front of her stomach almost casually.

The Revenant lunges, the same knife that cut Wynonna the first time in his hand. Wynonna dodges it this time, her body still turned to the side. Nicole frowns to herself as she edges closer to the door. It’s not a good defense tactic. She’s twisting her neck to read his body language and his telegraphing. She’s at a disadvantage and it’s unlike Wynonna to fight that way.

“Get to Waverly,” Wynonna says to her. “Get to her and tell her I tried, okay? Tell her I really did want it.”

Nicole pauses. “No,” she says, shaking her head. “No way.”

“Nicole,” Wynonna hisses. Her good arm is still locked in a bent position in front of her body.

Tell her I really did want it echoes in Nicole’s mind. She stares at Wynonna for a moment and thinks no coffee, no whisky, pickles in her ice cream, morning mama tea, throwing up in the cruiser, tuna fish, clothes don’t fit, fiber cereal and the truth hits her at the same time the Revenant lands a shot to her ribcage. She doubles over and catches herself with one hand.

She looks at Wynonna. “You’re…”

Wynonna’s eyes cut to the Revenant before she looks back at Nicole. “Yeah,” she breathes out.

The Revenant looks between them. “Just shut up,” he growls. He stalks towards Wynonna.

Nicole intercepts him, the pain in her arm blossoming as she deflects a punch. She ducks another punch and rolls away, pushing up onto her feet quickly and stepping in front of Wynonna. Her gun lies by the door, too far away. She pants heavily.

“We’re all getting out of here,” she promises.

“Nicole,” Wynonna whispers.

Nicole can’t stop herself from reaching behind her, finding Wynonna’s hand, and squeezing. “All of us,” she repeats.

The Revenant charges her just as the door behind him flies open. Something silver slides across the floor as a quick succession of gunshots brings the Revenant to his knees. He growls in frustration.

Wynonna picks up Peacemaker and staggers over to the Revenant and mumbles out ‘make your peace’ before she fires a solitary shot between his eyes. She collapses to the ground as the Revenant screams and sinks back into hell.

Dolls rushes to pick her up but Nicole gets there first, sliding her arms under Wynonna’s body and standing slowly. She takes a few shaky steps before she finds her footing.

“Tell me you have a car,” she grunts.

Waverly is in the driver’s seat, tapping the steering wheel impatiently. She startles when she sees them come out of the warehouse and goes to get out of the car, but Dolls runs ahead of Nicole and pushes her back behind the wheel, opening the backseat.

Nicole puts Wynonna down as gently as she can and slides in after her. “Go,” she says to Waverly.

The ride into town is a blur of Wynonna’s hair in Nicole’s face and Waverly’s eyes in the rearview mirror. They get to the ER entrance and Docs opens the door, reaching for Wynonna. Nicole slaps his hands away and lifts Wynonna herself again, letting Dolls and Doc open doors for her.

She doesn’t collapse until Wynonna is on a gurney, being rushed into surgery.

Then Nicole falls down.

  
-  
She wakes up in a hospital bed with an IV sticking out of her arm. She grunts and reaches to pull it out but a hand lands on her own, stopping her.

“You need it,” Wynonna says quietly.

Nicole blinks and tries to shift but something is heavy and weighted against her side. It takes a moment for her to recognize Waverly’s body curled against her and when she does, she lets out a long sigh of relief.

Wynonna stands on her other side, gauze wrapped around her bicep. “You have a few bruised ribs. A dislocated elbow. And a pretty big ego.”

Nicole snorts softly. “Is that the medical diagnosis?”

Wynonna smirks but it fades quickly. “The boys said you went all She-Hulk and carried my ass in here.”

“Top-shelf,” Nicole murmurs.

“Don’t let Waverly catch you saying that,” Wynonna warns.

Nicole looks down at the woman sleeping next to her and smiles softly. “She’s fine with it.”

“How did you know?” Wynonna asks after a minute.

Nicole looks up.

Wynonna curls an arm around her middle. “About the baby.”

Nicole’s lips twitch. “Do you want a comprehensive report, or the bulleted list?”

Wynonna stares at her for a moment. “Don’t be an ass.”

Nicole shrugs. “A lot of little things. You threw Nedley’s tuna sandwich in the trash.”

Wynonna wrinkles her nose. “It smelled disgusting.”

Nicole stares at Wynonna for a moment before she nods down towards her stomach. “Everything okay?”

Wynonna looks down . “Yeah. No injuries or internal bleeding or anything. Should be tip-top.”

“Does Doc know?”

Wynonna flinches. “What makes you think it’s Doc’s?”

Nicole shrugs. “You and Dolls… There’s too much just do it already tension there. Doc is…”

Wynonna waves a hand to stop her. “Okay. Fine. it’s Doc. And he doesn’t know.”

Nicole shrugs. “Okay.”

“Okay? That’s it?”

Nicole nods. “Okay.”

Wynonna stares at her for a long moment before she nods slowly. “Okay,” she repeats.

Nicole nods again. “Okay.”


End file.
